GB2349384A

GB2349384A - Top down cooling system for an I.S. glass moulding machine

Info

Publication number: GB2349384A
Application number: GB0005001A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Russell Bruce Gottlieb
Original assignee: Emhart Glass SA
Current assignee: Emhart Glass SA
Priority date: 1999-04-28
Filing date: 2000-03-01
Publication date: 2000-11-01
Anticipated expiration: 2020-03-01
Also published as: JP2000319025A; DE10006134B4; AU1844600A; ITMI20000402A0; CZ301523B6; FR2792931A1; IT1316696B1; CZ2000546A3; JP4338868B2; RU2233250C2; GB0005001D0; GB2349384B; AU767674B2; DE10006134A1; ITMI20000402A1

Abstract

A section of an I.S. machine comprises a mould carrier 25 for supporting each mould half 26 having vertical cooling passages 31, a manifold 49 having a plenum 60 overlying each mould half 26 the plenum having downward exit means 62 for delivering cooling air to the air passage 31 in the mould half 26. The manifold 49 can be displaced vertically relative to the mould carrier 25 on guides eg screws 66 in slots 67. Secured to each screw 66 is a bracket 80 and a shaft 84 with cams 86 is pivotally secured between each pair of brackets 80. Rotation of the shaft with handle 88 causes the cams 86 to separate the manifold 49 from the mould halves enabling the mould to be changed by a single operator.

Description

2349384 I.S. MACHINE The present invention relates to I.S. (individual

section) machines which transform gobs of molten glass into containers, such as bottles, in a two step process, and more particularly to the mechanism for cooling the blank molds of that machine.

The first I.S. machine was patented in U.S. Patents Nos. 1,843,159, dated February 2, 1932, and 1,911,119, dated May 23, 1933. An I.S.

(individual section) machine has a plurality of identical sections (a section frame in which and on which are mounted a number of section mechanisms), each of which has a blank station which has one or more blank molds for receiving a corresponding number of gobs of molten glass. The received gobs are formed into parisons having a threaded opening at the bottom (the finish). Each section also has a blow station which receives the parisons and forms them into bottles standing upright with the finish at the top. The more effective the heat transfer from a gob of molten glass within a blank mold, the quicker the forming process.

Conventionally, the blank molds are formed with a series of vertical holes, and cooling air is either directed upwardly through these holes (bottom up) or downwardly through these holes (top down). The most recent design for an I.S. machine is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,830,254, and a conventional system for supplying top down cooling air is shown in U.S.

Patent No. 4,561,875. The manifolds employed interfit with the blank molds making removing of the blank molds difficult. An operator conventionally uses a crowbar to separate the manifold from the blank molds, thereby making it possible for a second operator to remove the blank molds.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved top down air cooling system for blank molds in such a machine.

2 It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved top down air cooling system for blank molds in an I.S. machine wherein blank molds can be changed by a single operator.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mold opening and closing mechanism for a section of an I.S. machine, comprising:

a mold carrier assembly for supporting at least one mold half having generally vertical cooling air passage means, a manifold assembly including a manifold having a plenum including a portion for overlying the or each mold half, the or each plenum portion having downwardly opening exit means for delivering cooling air from the plenum to the cooling air passage means of the at least one mold half, guide means for controlling the displacement of said manifold relative to said mold carrier assembly including a pair of generally vertical guides secured to said mold carrier assembly and a pair of slots in said manifold for receiving said guides, and a lifting device extending between said guides, including: a bracket releasably secured to each guide, a shaft pivotally secured proximate each end to a respective one of said brackets, and cam means secured to said shaft and configured so that said manifold assembly will rest on said at least one mold half when said cam means is at a first orientation and so that said manifold assembly will be selectively separated from said at least one mold half when said cam means is at a second orientation.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mold opening and closing mechanism for a section of an I.S. machine, comprising:

3 at least one mold half having generally vertical cooling air passage means, a mold carrier assembly including carrier/insert means for supporting said at least one mold half, a manifold assembly including:

a manifold having a frame, and a plenum including a portion for overlying the or each of said at least one mold half, the at least one plenum portion having downwardly opening exit means, a spacer secured beneath said frame and having generally vertically extending spacer hole means communicating with the downwardly opening exit means of the or each of the at least one plenum portion for delivering cooling air from the plenum to the vertical cooling air passage means of the at least one mold half, guide means for controlling the displacement of said manifold relative to said mold carrier assembly including a pair of generally vertical screws secured to said mold carrier assembly and a pair of generally vertical slots in said manifold for receiving said screws, and a lifting device extending between said screws, including:

a bracket releasably secured to each screw, a shaft pivotally secured proximate each end to one of said brackets, and cam means secured to said shaft and configured so that said manifold assembly will rest on said at least one mold half when said cam means is at a first orientation and so that said manifold assembly will be selectively separated from said at least one mold half when said cam means is at a second orientation.

The invention also provides an I.S. machine having a mold opening and closing mechanism as defined.

4 Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a presently preferred embodiment incorporating the principles of the invention, and in which- Figure 1 is an oblique view of part of the blank station of an I.S.

machine incorporating a top down cooling system embodying the present invention and showing the manifold portion of the system; Figure 2 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of half of the top down cooling system shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is an oblique view of a device for separating the cooling air manifold and the blank molds, in a first orientation; and Figure 4 is an oblique view of a portion of the device for separating the cooling air manifold and the blank molds shown in Figure 3, in a second orientation.

A gob of molten glass is formed into a parison at the blank station of a section of an I.S. machine. The blank station has a mold opening and closing mechanism which includes a pair of opposed drive assemblies 10 (only one is illustrated for clarity), each of which has a housing 11 secured to the section frame or box 12 by suitable fasteners 13. The housing 11 supports a vertical ball screw 14 which drives a pair of nuts 15 connected to the left hand end of two pairs of corresponding links 16. The right hand ends of the links are connected via a horizontal shaft 22 (Figure 1) to a yoke 24 which is interconnected with a carrier 25 via a vertical shaft (not shown).

The gob is formed in a blank mold which includes a pair of opposed blank mold halves 26. Each blank mold half is carried by one or more inserts 27 which are supported by the carrier 25. The carrier is mounted for horizontal movement towards and away from a housing 11. For this purpose, the carrier is secured to a pair of round shafts 28, having parallel horizontal axes, which are sliclingly received in suitable bearings 29. The carrier is displaceable between an advanced position relative to the housing 11 (Figure 2) whereat the illustrated blank mold half will be in engagement with the other blank mold half, and a retracted, mold open position, where the carrier will be proximate the housing. Displacement is effected by rotating the ball screw 14 with a suitable drive motor 30 which displaces the nuts 15 apart vertically to horizontally shorten, i.e. retract, the links 16, rotation of the ball screw in the opposite direction returning the nuts to their position shown, and thus extending the links. Complete details of such a mold opening and closing mechanism are disclosed in the above referred to U.S. Patent No. 5,830,254, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Each blank mold half 26 has a series of vertical cooling holes 31 which extend from its top to its bottom.

Cooling air is supplied through a pair of ducts 32, which extend from the bottom to the top of the housing 11 at either side of the housing. These ducts 32, which bend around the round shaft holes, terminate at the top of the housing with a circular recess 34 which receives the bottom of a cylindrical locating sleeve 36 secured within a mounting collar 38 which is fixed to the housing with suitable screws 40 (Figure 1). Slidingly received on the top portion of each locating sleeve 36 is an "L" shaped elbow 42 which has a vertical portion 45 having a cylindrical base 44 for sliding onto the sleeve, and an upper portion which has a flat vertical face 46 connected to one end of a horizontally extending cylindrical tube 48.

Associated with each housing 11 is a manifold 49 which will deliver cooling air to one set of the blank mold halves 26 supported by one of the carriers 25. The other, free end of each of the tubes 48 is slidingly received by an oil impregnated bronze ring bushing 50 which is retained adjacent the corresponding inlet 51 of the frame 52 of the manifold 49, by an end cap 54. These plenum inlets 51 communicate with inlets 53 to a plenum chamber 60 which includes three continuous semicircular or semi-annular portions 59 corresponding to and overlying the semicircular tops of three 6 blank mold halves that would be present in an I.S. section producing three bottles each cycle. Each semi-annular plenum portion 59 has one or more downwardly opening exits communicating with a semi-annular vertical slot 62, defined in a spacer 64 which is connected to the manifold by means of a number of screws (not shown) which extend upwardly through the spacer into the manifold frame. These semi-annular slots overlie the series of cooling holes 31 in corresponding blank molds 26.

The manifold assembly (the interconnected manifold 49 and spacer 64) sits on top of the inserts 27, with movement relative to the carrier/inserts restricted by a pair of vertical screws 66 which are secured to the top of the carrier, and which are located in suitable slots 67 in the manifold frame 52 (the manifold assembly may accordingly be lifted to change the blank mold halves). A set screw 70 secures each elbow 42 to its associated sleeve 36, accommodating a limited amount of vertical adjustment.

The foregoing arrangement allows the manifold arrangement to accommodate sets of blank molds of different height. For example, to accommodate a much taller set of blank molds the sleeves 36 and spacers 64 can be e xchanged with taller sleeves and spacers.

Secured to each of the pair of vertical screws 66, immediately below the frame 52 of the manifold 49, is a bracket 80 (Figures 3 and 4). Each bracket has a split clamp portion 81 which can be clamped to the associated screw with a fastener 82. Pivotally supported by each pair of brackets is a pivot shaft 84 to which are secured identical cams 86. The pivot shaft can be rotated with a handle 88 secured at one end of the shaft to rotate the cams from a first orientation, shown in Figure 3 where they are horizontal, to a second orientation, shown in Figure 4, where the ends 89 of the cams engage the bottom of the manifold frame slightly past center. The second orientation, and preferably also the first orientation, may be determined by 7 suitable stop means, for example by one or more of the cams 86 engaging one or more corresponding shoulders on one or both of the brackets. The manifold frame is elevated in the process of rotation from the first to the second orientation, separating the manifold assembly (the bottom surface of the spacer 64) and the top of the blank molds sufficiently to allow an operator to lift the blank molds off of the mold carrier inserts (as shown in Figure 2 a downwardly projecting lip 90 interconnects with an upwardly extending catch 92 and a button 94 catches an upstanding flange 96). With the line of engagement being past center, the manifold assembly will be maintained at its fully lifted position until the operator displaces the horizontal handle 88 (Figure 4) back to its original vertical position (Figure 3).

I 8

Claims

1 A mold opening and closing mechanism for a section of an I.S.

machine, comprising:

a mold carrier assembly for supporting at least one mold half having generally vertical cooling air passage means, a manifold assembly including a manifold having a plenum including a portion for overlying the or each mold half, the or each plenum portion having downwardly opening exit means for delivering cooling air from the plenum to the cooling air passage means of the at least one mold half, guide means for controlling the displacement of said manifold relative to said mold carrier assembly including a pair of generally vertical guides secured to said mold carrier assembly and a pair of slots in said manifold for receiving said guides, and a lifting device extending between said guides, including:

a bracket releasably secured to each guide, a shaft pivotally secured proximate each end to a respective one of said brackets, and cam means secured to said shaft and configured so that said manifold assembly will rest on said at least one mold half when said cam means is at a first orientation and so that said manifold assembly will be selectively separated from said at least one mold half when said cam means is at a second orientation.

2. A mold opening and closing mechanism for a section of an I.S.

machine, comprising:

at least one mold half having generally vertical cooling air passage means, a mold carrier assembly including carrier/insert means for supporting said at least one mold half, a manifold assembly including:

9 a manifold having a frame, and a plenum including a portion for overlying the or each of said at least one mold half, the at least one plenum portion having downwardly opening exit means, a spacer secured beneath said frame and having generally vertically extending spacer hole means communicating with the downwardly opening exit means of the or each of the at least one plenum portion for delivering cooling air from the plenum to the vertical cooling air passage means of the at least one mold half, guide means for controlling the displacement of said manifold relative to said mold carrier assembly including a pair of generally vertical screws secured to said mold carrier assembly and a pair of generally vertical slots in said manifold for receiving said screws, and a lifting device extending between said screws, including: a bracket releasably secured to each screw, a shaft pivotally secured proximate each end to one of said brackets, and cam means secured to said shaft and configured so that said manifold assembly will rest on said at least one mold half when said cam means is at a first orientation and so that said manifold assembly will be selectively separated from said at least one mold half when said cam means is at a second orientation.

3. A mold opening and closing mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said lifting device further comprises a handle secured to one end of said shaft.

4. A mold opening and closing mechanism for a section of an I.S. machine, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

5. An I.S. machine incorporating one or more mold opening and closing mechanisms according to any preceding claim.